Harrah's Entertainment

From Free net encyclopedia

Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. Template:NYSE is a gaming corporation that owns and operates casinos, hotels, and five golf courses under several brands. The company is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the largest gaming company in the world, with yearly revenues around $9 billion. (It's largest competitor, MGM Mirage, has $7.4 billion in yearly revenues, but no other competitors are nearly as large.)

1 History
2 Casinos
3 Sources
4 External links

[edit]

History

Template:Update

The company started out in 1937 as a small bingo parlor in Reno, Nevada operated by William F. Harrah.

Purchased the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino (which also owned the Rio Secco Golf course) in 1999 for $888 million.

In March 2004, Harrah's purchased Binion's Horseshoe.

In March 11, 2004, Harrah's sold Binion's Horseshoe to MTR Gaming Group retaining the rights to the Horsehoe brand and the World Series of Poker.

Later in 2004, Harrah's closed on the purchase of Horseshoe Gaming Holding Corporation.

On June 13, 2005 Harrah's completed the takeover of Caesars Entertainment. While the companies were not required to divest any properties, they did sell several properties before the merger was completed. This merger made Harrah's the largest gambling company with over 4 million square feet (370,000 m²) of casinos, almost 100,000 employees and over 40 casinos.

At the end of June 2005, Harrah's Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman announced that the company will consolidate all their brand names under the following: Harrah's, Rio, Caesars, and Horseshoe. Some stand alone names, like Paris Las Vegas are likely to be retained.

First up will be the rebranding of the two remaining Bally's properties in the company, but Loveman did not give any exact specifics or a timeline of when this will occur.

In August 2005, Harrah's New Orleans, Grand Casino Biloxi, and Grand Casino Gulfport were closed because of Hurricane Katrina. The Grand's location was largely destroyed, with all of the barge-based buildings containing their gaming areas being torn from their moorings and blown across U.S. Highway 90.

In September 2005, Harrah's Lake Charles Casino and Hotel was severely damaged by Hurricane Rita. One riverboat was pushed completely onshore, and the other is at the Port of Lake Charles awaiting repairs. All of the restaurants and support buildings were destroyed. Harrah's estimates that the rebuilding will take 2 years. As of December 22, 2005, 1406 full and part-time employee positions will be eliminated.

On December 12, 2005, a sale of the Grand Casino Gulfport, for an undisclosed amount, to Gulfside Casino Partnership was announced. Gulfside is the owner of the Copa Casino which is next to the Grand Casino. The announcement also stated that the Grand Casino Biloxi is to be rebuild from scratch as a Horseshoe casino. Harrah's New Orleans, which didn't receive much damage from the storm, is scheduled to open on February 17, 2005 with half the employees it had before the hurricane.

[edit]

Casinos

[edit]

Bally's brand

Image:Ballys logo.gif

Bally's Atlantic City (Includes Wild Wild West Casino & Claridge Towers)
Bally's Las Vegas

The Bally's brand will be phased out. The Las Vegas and Atlantic City properties will be rebranded, though the company has not specified which new brands will be used.

Bally's Tunica is not owned by Harrah's

[edit]